When the actress Marie Tartrais, accustomed to performing plays by other authors, decides to write a show to perform alone on stage, she does not look for inspiration for long. Her partner's grandmother, Marcelle Joubert from Lannion, is there. The lady is a figure in Lannion, known for having raised twelve children, including a family of four children who had to be scattered in orphanages, and for having come to the aid of hundreds of people in difficulty.
“Writing started in January 2023,” says the actress. I was fed anecdotes by my mother-in-law, Anne Le Béver, and by Marcelle's daughter-in-law, wife of her only biological son. Everything that is said is true and I have benefited from different points of view. Once several versions of the play had been written, we said to ourselves, with Benoît, my partner and Marcelle's grandson, that humor was needed to make it an accessible show. »
One actress, 17 characters
On stage, for an hour, she plays Marcelle, from the ages of 19 to 95, plus 17 characters. All very real, except a neighbor, angry with Marcelle's activities and who represents the discontent that the accommodation of people in difficulty caused in the neighborhood. Protests of which Marcelle Joubert does not remember. It is in her personality as an optimist driven by faith, explains Anne Le Bever, “she has a magic slate that erases problems”.
The grandmother of 36 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren, who was still playing ping-pong last year, saw the show in the spring: “I think it's perfect. I appreciated that Marie played on the carefree side. »
Helping, an ideal of life
The elegant Marcelle, after welcoming students, battered women, those released from prison, migrants, young people thrown out of their parents' homes in four houses that her husband, Jean, who died in 1999, worked hard to maintain, refuses to be presented as a heroine: “I acted according to the opportunities, it was not planned. Helping others corresponded to my ideal of life. Buying the large house at 28, rue de Tréguier was the trigger, after our arrival in Lannion in 1962. When the children left, we had all the rooms, we started renting cheaply to people in difficulty. »
“She had bruises, there was a lot of theft in the house and when we came, we almost had to justify being there. That plus changing reception regulations, she had to stop about ten years ago. »
Over time, people came from everywhere, with all kinds of problems, a violent past, a present marked by alcohol and drugs, to the point of becoming dangerous, says her daughter: “She had bruises, there was a lot of theft in the house and when we came, we almost had to justify being there. That plus changing reception regulations, she had to stop about ten years ago. »
For a theater author, there is, in this journey, material to tell, explains Marie Tartrais: “I would like to perform my play in schools, to show young people a woman who has done good for herself by being useful to others. » Two performances are organized in Lannion, half of the proceeds will be used to finance its presence at the Avignon festival next summer, and the other half will be donated to a charity, in the spirit of Marcelle's actions.
Practical
“Marcelle, based on a true story”, Friday December 27 at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday December 28 at 3:30 p.m., Espace Sainte-Anne, 2, rue de Kérampont. Free participation.
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